“You really only have to sleep with him once. Because the second it happens, it’s gonna make everything complicated. That’s good for you…bad for him.”
I knew I would never love anyone but Hades, so I had to do everything I possibly could to get him back. I wanted the life I’d lost, wanted the family I’d never got the chance to enjoy. “Which bar is it?”
23
Hades
I sat in the booth with Rhett and Tony, two big clients I’d acquired over the last two months. They dealt with oil in the Middle East and sold most of their product to the States. Despite the world moving toward renewable and sustainable energy, there was still huge revenue from oil.
And my clients needed to launder it.
That was where I came in. I could make problems disappear.
After a few rounds of chitchat, a couple brunette girls joined us at the table. The guys were about forty years older than me, so their days of picking up women would soon be over. They were rich, but cash wouldn’t cover the wrinkles.
The blonde who’d approached me kept drinking out of my glass even though she had her own red wine. “How do you drink that?” She stuck out her tongue and made a face, acting like a child. She was a little young for my taste, probably in her early twenties. For me, it felt like thirty-five was fast approaching.
When the girls got bored of Rhett and Tony, they excused themselves and moved on to something else. Maybe they had been interested in me, but the blonde beat them to it.
Rhett looked across the bar to find new tail. “Those girls weren’t that hot anyway.”
Yes, they were.
Tony agreed with him. “What about that brunette over there?”
“Where?” Rhett asked, looking at the front of the room where the barstools were and the bartender stood making drinks.
“She’s wearing the backless dress,” Tony explained. “Brown, curled hair and stripper heels.”
When Rhett spotted her, he whistled. “Damn.”
“But there’s only one of her,” Tony argued.
Rhett shook his hand. “Then may the best man win.” Just as he was about to get out of his seat, he stilled and sat back down. “Shit. Some other guy’s already there.”
“A few guys have been there,” Tony said. “She has like six glasses sitting in front of her, and most of them are full.”
Initially, I hadn’t cared about the hot woman across the bar. All women were hot. Blondes, brunettes, redheads, whatever. It took a lot to impress me, so they all seemed the same to me. But I’d never heard of a woman getting that many drinks, so I turned to get a glance.
Fuck me.
It was Sofia.
I could recognize that long dark hair anywhere. I’d fisted the strands so many times that I’d completely memorized the texture of her hair, the way it slid through my fingertips when I held her close to me. Even if she just got a trim at the salon, I noticed it. I noticed the way her hair framed her face and trailed to her shoulders.
The rest of her features were even more distinguishable, like her tanned skin, her chiseled back, the sky-high heels that made her ass look dangerously perky. She had her lips painted red the way I liked, and the smoky effect around her eyes was another thing I enjoyed. She certainly didn’t look like she’d just had a baby. That dress was tight and flattering, and her sexy chest was distracting to any straight man with eyes.
Did she know I was there?
Was this just a coincidence?
It had to be, because there was no way she could’ve figured out my whereabouts. I never told Ash or Damien, so unless she was following me, there was just no way. I stared at her with a mixture of shock and annoyance.
Seeing the handsome man talking to her just annoyed me more.
Then she laughed, throwing her head back and gripping her stomach because whatever the fuck that guy said was so hilarious. Her hand rested on his wrist on the surface of the bar, seeming innocent but also purposeful. All the guys before him had struck out based on the untouched Long Island iced tea, vodka cranberry, glasses of red wine, and a screwdriver.
The drink she was actually consuming…was a scotch.
That pissed me off more.
“Damn.” Rhett genuinely looked devastated he never got his chance with Sofia, even though he knew nothing about her, hadn’t ever even listened to her voice.
Damien’s words came into my head. She won’t be on the market for long…
I grabbed my glass and took a deep drink, feeling unbridled rage coming from nowhere. I was up the stairs and tucked into the back of the bar, so she probably had no idea I was there. She really was out on the town, picking up handsome strangers to erase my memory.